HELSINKI - Usually it's the emotion which carries Canada to a higher level in international hockey.

Not in this one.

It was actually the emotion which almost cost them.

Whistles filled Hartwall Arena when Brent Sutter called a time out with Canada down 2-0 to Finland that was largely a result of that Canadian emotion.

"The first five minutes was exactly how I wanted us to play," said Sutter as he watched his guys come over the boards pumped and playing with a pace they hadn't previously shown in the tournament.

Then, inexplicably, it was like somebody turned the switch the other way.

"We just became too emotionally involved and started taking penalties," he said.

"Suddenly we're down 2-0 and I'm calling that time out to settle them down and get back to our game plan."

By the end of the evening the whistling had stopped and all you could hear was the wheezing of Finland skaters who ran out of wind and legs as the Canadians played them into the ice to the point they lost their legs.

"We wanted to take advantage of the schedule a little bit. In the end that helped us a little bit," he said of the Finns having back-to-back games.

"In the end we played the way we wanted to play."

When Evander Kane of the Winnipeg Jets scored to finally put the Canadians ahead of Finland for the first time in the game six minutes into the third period, it sent the team of all-NHLers to a 5-3 empty-net goal win, it also also moved them into first place.

The win left Canada with 13 points in the standings and, barring an upset of monumental proportions, first place in the Helsinki pool, one more than Finland and three up on the USA with Switzerland and Slovakia back with six each in the battle for the final spot in the quarter-finals.

Canada returns to the ice Saturday to play against Kazakhstan, 3-2 losers to the United States in overtime in the early game here Friday. Canada plays Belarus Tuesday.

Going from games in which the empty seats outnumbered the fans four and five to one, the capacity crowd of 13,059 equalled the combined number of fans in the stands for Canada's previous four games in the tournament.

All the trouble began with a brutal neutral zone giveaway by Kyle Quincey that Antti Pihlstrom converted into a 1-0 lead. Quincey then took a crosschecking penalty and Dion Phaneuf followed him to the box with a slashing penalty. Mikko Koivu promptly made it 2-0.

With Cam Ward stopping 14 in a row at one point, the shots ended up 15-4 at the end of the period.

Alexandre Burrows, back in the lineup following a concussion, was finally back on the ice early in the second period and responded with a backhand goal to close the gap.

"That first goal by Burrows was huge. All of a sudden it's 2-1 and we were right there," said Sutter.

An elbow by Skinner resulted in yet another power play, this one by Jussi Jokinen.

But Skinner and John Tavares scored the first two of four straight Canadian goals to end the game with linemate Jordan Eberle finding the empty net to compete the comeback.

"Skinner, Tavares and Eberle were very strong tonight," said Sutter.

"So far this tournament that line hasn't spent a lot of time in our zone," he said of the two 21-year-olds and 19-year-old Skinner.

"The funny thing with this team this year is you have the youngest team we've ever had at the world championships but they already have so much international experience," said Sutter.

"And that experience has really shown."

The winner featured Corey Perry working his way down the boards and setting Kane up with a wrist shot from the slot.

"It was definitely a big goal for our hockey club," said Kane.

"To end up scoring four straight goals hopefully will end up being big for this team as we go deeper into the tournament."